March 15th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
My zipper was stuck.
I was panicked. I felt stupid, nervous and had no idea how I was going to explain this to my new boss.
You see, it was my first day as an “official” dog trainer.
I had just landed a job training dogs at a large, successful, well-known dog training school in Connecticut.
About 25 dogs and their owners had shown up and I was very excited and happy to see the turn out.
Just before class I ducked into the men’s room and just as I finished and pulled up my zipper, it got stuck. There I was standing in the men’s room tugging and pulling with all my strength and it would not budge.
The minutes ticked by and I could hear the dogs and people getting louder and louder.
Panic time, how was I going to fix this?
A small bead of sweat began at my hairline and I could feel it drip over my forehead. I decided to give it one giant pull. Just as I did, the zipper broke.
A soft knock on the door and the receptionist asked if everything was okay. I answered that I would be right there. She must have heard the panic in my voice and said:
“You sure?” “There are a lot of people and their dogs waiting to start the class.”
That’s when an idea flashed into my head.
Downstairs was the grooming area. During the day, a steady stream of dogs came in to be bathed, clipped and dried. In a flash, I opened the door and bolted past the receptionist and ran down the stairs. Once in the grooming area, I quickly looked around and found exactly what could help me.
I grabbed it raced back up the stairs.
I got some weird looks as I walked into the training class but nobody questioned me.
I had put an apron on and taught the entire class that way. But now I had a bigger problem. The class was in total chaos. Dogs were barking and pulling on leash, kids were running around screaming and the owners did not look too happy.
I had to calm the dogs FAST.
It is very easy to calm a dog down in a hectic situation.
Most people struggle and have a difficult time when their dog becomes excited. The solution is often as simple as what I did in the above story.
In my next post I am going to explain what you can do when your dog starts to get out of control.
See you then!
All the best,
Eric
P.S. If you’re ready to train your dog faster than a zipper getting stuck, check out: The Dog Training Inner Circle.
Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States and has been training dogs for over 20 years, teaching regular, average, every-day owners all over the world how to get the training results they want as fast as possible. Eric is also the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Improve Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
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Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States. For more than 20 years, he has been developing dog training "hacks" that have worked for dog owners all over the world. Eric operates from a home office or a laptop while traveling and draws on his experience and passion for dog training to show others how to develop a dog that is truly “Man’s Best Friend”.
Eric is the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Hack Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
Eric, your point is well taken. Along with your course I have been taking some in person training as well. Its not so much for the dog, but for myself and the family. AS we train our dogs, we must remain calm and confident with our behavioral skills and cues for positive re-enforcement.The consistent nature of the re-enforcement and consistency is essential to success. Often the solution is very easy, we has humans must try to get perspective and empathy from the dog we are training.